AN: Guys! I am SOOOOOOO sorry. I went back to school and this chapter has been fighting me forever.
Jess makes an appearance in this chapter but it's completely innocent and this chapter and this entire fic is completely Rogan.
I've also set up another poll for this fic, so if any of you feel so inclined, let me know your thoughts in the poll.
On with the show!
On the day of the gala Logan and Rory dressed up, Rory in her long blue dress and Logan in a smart black suit, left Rory's apartment two hours earlier than necessary. They were heading out to take some pictures that would accompany the article about their relationship that would be released tomorrow morning. The reporter from the Daily Post had interviewed them earlier in the week and had written up the article, they had both read it and agreed that it would be released. A personal statement about their relationship would be released by HPG at the same time that the article by the Daily Post went up on the website. They had decided to take the pictures at Bethesda Terrace despite the season. The weather was nice enough that they thought it would be alright. After taking pictures for half an hour, they got into the town car to look over the pictures and decide which ones would be used. They only picked three since they had to be careful because the pictures would be online and in all HPG publications as well as many others. Once they approved the pictures, they headed to the gala which was being held in an old, red bricked event centre on Park Avenue. As they pulled up in front of the building Rory's anxiety went up a notch, Logan noticed Rory's change in mood and reached over to grab her hand. "Are you ok, Ace?"
"Never better."
"Then are you ready?"
Rory took a deep breath then nodded, "You jump, I jump, remember?"
Logan laughed and nodded, "Then here we go."
Logan opened the door then got out, he quickly turned around and helped her out also. Once they were out of the car they stopped briefly so the few photographers outside could take their picture then headed inside. They walked into a large ballroom that had a large chandelier hanging from the glass dome ceiling, a balcony that looked out onto the main ballroom, two wings that were underneath the balconies that had a bar set up in one, and a relaxed seating area in the other. There seemed to be close to thirty tables set up around the space with a stage set up at the front of the room.
Once Logan was able to look around at who decided to attend, he spotted a few people that he wanted to introduce Rory too, and they headed over to speak to them. Once that was done, they started mingling their way around the room in a way that would make Emily Gilmore proud.
As they were making the rounds and mingled with the members of the board of the foundation, Rory was having a nice chat with the head of the board as Logan was talking shop with some of the other businessmen standing around.
"Where was it that you said you grew up?" The head of the board, Martha, asked.
"It's a small town about an hour outside of Hartford Connecticut," Rory said with a smile.
"Yes, but which one?"
Rory was startled for a second, surprised that she wanted to know which town she grew up in since most people were satisfied with the answer she gave, "Stars Hollow, it's about an hour west of Hartford."
"Wow, that's incredible!" At Rory's baffled look, Martha quickly explained, "We invited a previous participant tonight and I believe he spent some time in Stars Hollow after leaving us, I'll see if I can find him to introduce you two!" Martha bounced away, getting Logan's attention in the process. Logan came to stand next to Roy and gently slid his arm around her waist to get her attention, "What was that about?" Logan said with a chuckle.
"Apparently the guest of honour is from Stars Hollow," Rory said still stunned.
"Seriously," Logan said shocked, "Who do you think it is?"
Before Rory could answer Martha reappeared with a bemused Jess who was escorting a petite, dark-haired woman, who Rory hadn't met before.
"Jess, I'd like to introduce you to someone, she grew up in that funny town you were shipped off to and I'm curious if you already know each other." Logan and Rory heard Martha say to Jess as they got closer. Rory knew that Jess didn't know it was her that Martha was bringing him to meet since he was happily chatting to the NGO head. Jess didn't spot them until they were nearly in front of them and when he did his shock at seeing her was clear.
"Rory?"
"Hi, Jess," Rory said calmly.
"Oh good!" Martha exclaimed, startling the small group. "You already know each other, this is fantastic!" Before anyone could say anything else Martha turned to Jess and barely whispered, "Charm them, they could give us quite the donation if they feel like it." With a quick farewell, Martha was off in the crowd, leaving the baffled foursome behind.
"Rory, what are you doing here?" Jess said after shaking himself out of his shock.
"I've always been invited to these events but I couldn't make it for a long time. But, now that I'm not travelling as much and that I've got a permanent job in New York I'm able to attend again." Rory hesitated for a moment before speaking again, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm the poster boy for the Children's Literacy Connection, so they have me come to events like this and be their 'success story. Boy with neglectful parents turned successful writer and business owner makes for a pretty good testimonial."
"I bet," Rory said with a little smile, "I didn't know you were involved with the Children's Literacy Connection when you were a kid."
"Yeah. One of my teachers took me down to the centre one day when she noticed I had been spending a lot of time in the library after hours. They were the ones who really instilled my love of reading and taught me how to write. If it hadn't been for them I probably would've followed my parents' footsteps and become a drug addict or something." Jess said as he kept glancing at Logan, rattled by his presence. "So, you live in New York now?" Jess asked, looking to get the attention off him and his unfortunate past.
"Yes, I moved here for a new job," with the opening in the conversation, Rory used it to slide Logan into the discussion. "The job also allowed Logan and I to reconnect. Do you remember Logan?" Rory said nervously, not forgetting the night outside the pub when Jess came to visit when she was living in Hartford and working for the DAR.
Jess was eying Logan suspiciously and Logan, who hadn't moved from Rory's side since Jess first appeared, offered his hand and said, "Good to see you again Jess."
Jess hesitated before taking the offered hand and sarcastically said, "I'm surprised that you got my name right this time."
"Sorry about that, I was not having a good night, but I'll remember from now on." Jess must've decided that whatever fight he was trying to start wasn't worth it and stopped scowling so hard.
"Right, this is my girlfriend, Maggie. Maggie, this is Rory Gilmore and her," At Jess' falter when he was unsure of Logan's place in the scheme of things Logan easily slid into the conversation, "I'm her boyfriend."
"Nice to meet you," Maggie said to Logan and Rory, "Wait," Maggie asked, "Are you the same Rory whose mom is married to Uncle Luke?"
Rory couldn't help the chuckle that she made at Maggie's comment, "That's me, pleased to meet you." Rory said with a smile, "I've never heard anyone, other than Jess, refer to Luke as Uncle Luke. I'm a bit surprised he lets you do that."
"It drives him crazy, so I do it whenever I speak to him."
Rory smiled and turned to Jess, "I like her, you picked a good one here, Jess"
"Thanks," Jess replied with an awkward smile.
Sensing the tension Maggie decided to excuse herself to get a drink and some more appetizers.
"So," Jess started, finally breaking the silence that had fallen over the small group. "How long have you been together?"
"Three months," Logan said happily, "But these two came into being a few months before that."
"Twins?" Jess said shocked
"Yep." Rory chimed in, "We were more surprised than you when we found out, but we're thrilled."
"Well, congratulations. I'm surprised you haven't given her a ring yet." Jess jabbed at Logan.
"Oh I would've if she'd let me, but she wants to wait a bit longer. But I think I'm wearing her down."
"Hey I just don't want a repeat of last time," Rory said with a laugh.
"C'mon, have a little faith in me, Ace," Logan said before he planted a kiss on Rory's cheek. Jess just looked on, completely baffled at the show of affection he honestly thought Logan was incapable of. "It was great seeing you again, Jess," Logan said with another shake of Jess' hand. "Hopefully we can be civil towards each other since I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again before too long."
"Sounds good to me," Jess replied.
Logan turned to Rory and quickly said, "I need to go and schmooze with the suits who just spotted me. Will you be ok here with Jess?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine," Rory said with a smile, then after saying a farewell to Jess and giving Rory a quick kiss on the lips, Logan disappeared into the crowd.
Once Logan left Jess and Rory were quiet for a moment until Jess finally spoke, "You're back with Logan?"
"Yes, I am," Rory stated strongly, not in the mood to deal with her ex insulting her boyfriend. "Jess, you just said you would be civil towards each other."
"And I will be," He said, "I just have to ask, are you happy?"
Rory smiled thinking about the turn her life had made since she had reconnected with Logan, "Extremely."
"That's good," Jess said, clearly starting to relax as he realized that not only was Rory happy, but she seemed to have changed for the better since he saw her in Stars Hollow. "And he's treating you right?"
"Absolutely," Rory said, sounding happy as she started recounting parts of her relationship to Jess. "He likely would have married me the moment I told him I was pregnant, or before that, if I had said something, but I wanted to wait to make sure we were good before we did, and he's been so good about not pushing our relationship past where I'm comfortable. He's so excited to be a dad and he even bought a bassinet for the baby at Christmas. That was before we knew it was twins so we'll have to get another one."
"That's great, Ror. I really am happy for you," Jess said after deciding that this time would be different than the mess he had found when he went to Hartford and realized Rory had dropped out of Yale.
"Thanks, Jess," Rory said with a smile.
"So, tell me about this new job?"
"Luke didn't tell you?"
"Not really, he told me that you got a new job and moved out of Connecticut and that Lorelei was not thrilled."
"That sounds like Luke. Well, I got a job as the opinions editor for the Brooklyn Daily Post. My predecessor was incompetent, to say the least, so I have quite the task to turn the section around and to stop the paper from becoming the laughing stock of the East Coast newspaper world. It's a bit like what I did when I took over the Yale Daily News after Paris was ousted."
"Wait," Jess interrupted, "What happened with Paris?"
"She was editor of the Yale Daily News for a while and it was awful. She cut everything anyone else submitted, was micromanaging everything and she locked herself in a self-made bunker in the newsroom until one day the paper nearly didn't come out at all until Logan and I rallied the troops and fixed everything. After that Paris was essentially fired and I replaced her. I spent the first few months trying to undo the damage she caused."
"Oh my god, how did I never hear about this?"
"Well, we weren't really speaking at the time and it was during the Nardini fiasco."
"Yeah, I can see how a Paris meltdown wouldn't make it through during that," Jess commented, he remembered vividly the phone calls with Luke trying to sort out the mess brought down by April's arrival.
"So, did Luke not mention that Logan and I were together?" Rory asked, not terribly surprised since Luke's not a gossip, but she still thought it would've come up at some point.
"No. Did he know?"
"Yes, unless mom told him something different. She's not exactly Logan's biggest fan."
"Yeah, well, neither was I for a long time. But even I can tell he's not the same trust fund brat from ten years ago. Last I heard you were trying to remember to break up with P, so what happened with Logan?"
Rory sighed, unsure how to explain it without coming across like a complete bitch. "I was awful, I didn't care about my relationship with Paul and consistently forgot or purposely ignored it. So when Logan I were in the same place I'd be with him. We lived in separate countries so we didn't try to make it work, not that I didn't do my own share of running away whenever things could get more real. In the end, Paul broke up with me, in a much nicer way than I deserved, and Logan moved back to the US to take over the family company around the same time I found out I was pregnant. So, now we're really trying to make it work. We're actually in counselling."
"Wow," Jess whistled, clearly stunned, "How's that going?"
"It's going ok. We're hashing out some of our old issues which aren't easy but we're trying."
"That's good." Jess said, "How does Lorelei feel about all of this?"
Rory sighed as she thought how best to answer Jess' question, "She's not exactly thrilled with how things are going."
"Seriously?" Jess said shocked, "I thought she'd be thrilled. She has been your biggest cheerleader for as long as I've known you."
"Her hesitance isn't about my new job, at least not completely. Logan offered me the job when he stepped in as CEO of Huntzberger Publishing and he realized that my paper needed some new blood. He did all of this without a formal job posting or application process and that frustrated my mom. She also thought I was giving up on being a foreign correspondent by taking the position, once I explained to her that I was more comfortable writing and editing than I was chasing stories she calmed down a bit. Her biggest issue is my relationship with Logan. She sees it as me running right back into society, into the world she ran away from and she hates it. It has its problems but not everyone who associates with it is bad. Logan's not somebody who'd repeatedly cheat on his wife with his secretary then buy me off with expensive things while I pawn the children off on some nanny or boarding school to raise. Though, Richard and Emily never did those things so who knows where she got that idea from." Rory said getting a bit off-topic, "The fact that I tapped into my inheritance is what really makes her angry, and she blames Logan for that. I didn't do anything stupid with it, I just bought a nice place for me to live closer to my new job and traded in my car which was becoming a hazard to drive." Rory said with a sigh, "I think that she thinks if Logan wasn't around I'd live in a potting shed in Stars Hollow, work at the bookstore or the inn, marry some local guy and be her 'mini-me' forever. It's as if she's ignored the fact that I'm a separate person with different hopes and dreams, and that even if I wasn't with Logan I'd still be living this life."
"Just as long as your happy, Rory."
"I am," Rory said with a smile, "Other than being the poster boy for the Children's Literacy Connection, how have you been?"
"I've been good. Truncheon has been successful and we've expanded and had a store in New York as well. I also have another book coming out in June."
"That's fantastic! Congratulations, Jess," Before anything else could be said Martha came rushing up and quickly told Jess that she wanted him to speak to a few more people before giving his speech.
"A speech huh?" Rory said with a teasing smirk.
"I can give a speech," Jess said with a laugh. "I'm not as monosyllabic as I used to be."
"Well, I can't wait to hear it," Rory said with a smile. "It was really nice to see you again Jess."
"It was nice to see you again too, bye Rory." With a quick hug, Jess was gone, pulled away by a very enthusiastic Martha, leaving Rory to wander the crowds alone to look for Logan.
After a few minutes, Logan found her and quickly kissed her cheek. "Hey Ace, how was your conversation with Jess?"
"It was good, we were able to catch up a bit before Martha whisked him away. How were the suits?"
Logan sighed in annoyance. "If they weren't giving my father unearned praise they were asking me to either promote their activities or to fund them. So, as expected really."
Rory laughed lightly as Logan suddenly got a contemplative look on his face. "Logan?" Rory asked as she noticed his expression.
"Hm?"
"What's wrong?"
Logan sighed then led her to the side of the hall where they'd have a bit of privacy. "The suits did tell me something that you need to know."
"Ok?"
"Odette's here." Logan finally said.
Rory stared at Logan in shock for a few minutes before speaking, "Right, will she want to speak to me? I mean, of course, she will, who wouldn't want to speak to the woman her fiancé left her for?"
"Rory, relax," Logan said as he lightly grabbed her shoulders to ground her. "We've been through this remember, she was happy to end the charade and was in another relationship at the same time. If we do see her, she probably won't make a scene. The fallout would be just as bad for her as for you, there'd be rumours that could affect her ability to socialize in certain circles and even do her job properly, and her impending marriage would be under constant scrutiny from the press."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we got to know to play the optics and to not piss off the media too much."
"You are the media, Logan," Rory said with a smirk.
"I may own most of the major newspapers in the US, but I don't have any control over what ends up on social media." Rory nodded along absent-mindedly as what Logan said sunk in. "Ace?" At his concerned tone, she suddenly looked up. "Are you alright? What do you need?"
Rory took a deep breath, "I'm fine, Logan. Did you come up with a plan or are we going to see what happens?"
"I don't know where she is but if we do run into her and the press catches it we'll tell them how we broke up earlier but kept it quiet and then introduce our new fiancés." Rory agreed and steeled herself for what she knew would be an interesting moment, to say the least.
Half an hour later were heading towards their seats for the meal when it finally happened, they spotted an extremely elegant woman with strawberry blonde hair wearing a green gown, with cap sleeves, and a square neckline that seemed to glitter under the lights of the ballroom they were in. As the woman acknowledge them and started to make her way towards them, with an equally elegant, tall and dark-haired woman, in a dark blue, off-the-shoulder romper, at her side, Rory knew that she was about to come face-to-face with Odette.
Though Rory was never a regular player in the high society set, she did know a bit about how to properly behave and she quickly shifted so that any bystander would think she was legitimately happy to see Odette. Logan was steadily standing next to her with a comforting arm around her waist, and she knew that she could do this.
Suddenly Odette was in front of her, she kissed both of Rory's cheeks in greeting then easily led them into an easy conversation about trivial topics such as their clothes and how wonderful the gala was. Right on cue a journalist interrupted by asking Logan a question, "Mr. Huntzberger, how are both you and Ms. Durand so friendly after all that happened between you?"
"We were engaged, it ended amicably, and we moved on. There's nothing interesting about this at all."
"Really? You both seemed to move on quite quickly, were you or Ms. Durand participating in any 'extra-curricular' activities outside your relationship? The woman you're with makes me think that you at least were unfaithful."
Logan actually glared at the reporter before answering, "Odette and I split in the spring of last year, and Ms. Gilmore is an old friend from college who agreed to accompany me tonight, who is probably regretting that decision right now."
"The first record we have of you and Ms. Durand breaking up was just before your father died," Logan cut off the reporter before he could continue by saying, "We wanted to keep it quiet, our split caused some issues within our families and our family businesses and we didn't want to involve the media at the time."
"Come on Mr. Huntzberger, are you just going to ignore the interesting state of your friend?" The reporter said with a snide smirk.
"I am not going to degrade the integrity of this event by talking about ridiculous gossip. Now, you can go back to work and report about the wonderful charity being reported tonight or you can leave and I can make sure that you'll never get access to anything other than the street fair in Nebraska." One of the reporters looked pissed off at Logan's speech but before he could say anything Logan had caught the attention of a security guard and he was quickly dispersing the crowd of journalists that had assembled around them.
After a few moments, the woman next to Odette burst out laughing getting the attention of not only the rest of the group but a few bystanders as well. "Well, Logan that was one way to shut them up." The comment caused everyone else to laugh as well. When they finally got themselves under control the woman turned to Rory and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Madeleine Lavigne, Odette's fiancé."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Rory Gilmore."
"Of course you are! Odette has spoken a lot about you." Madeleine said happily.
"Oh?" No one could miss the apprehension in Rory's voice and Odette quickly jumped in before anyone else could intervene. "Nothing bad, I promise. I told her that you and Logan dated in college and that if he hadn't been the world's biggest idiot he would have already been married to you instead of living a lie with me." Odette said with a smile, "I hope you know that I have no hard feelings towards you, Rory. We are friends, nothing more, who go forced into a situation because neither of us was willing to tell our parents to stay out of it. He's also not really my type."
Rory burst out laughing at the statement, "Yeah, no kidding."
"He told me when he ran into you in Hamburg, he said that you were the girl who would be his wife if things had worked out differently."
"I wanted to marry him, just not right then. Things could have been so different if we had just had a conversation about that."
"That's how life goes though, doesn't it. He seemed worried about you for a long while, I hope things are getting better."
"They really are. I was lost for a while. My career had stalled out, I wasn't loving reporting and freelancing as much as I had thought and that was taking a toll. I am not cut out to roam the world like Jack Kerouac, but I kept at it hoping that I would find something more permanent. Then there was a family crisis, my grandfather died while I was on assignment, and that made everything worse. But things are starting to turn around."
"I'm glad, Rory. Logan also mentioned to me at one point that you seemed to have a bit of an interesting relationship with your mom."
Rory scoffed at the comment, "Interesting is one word for it. When I first got accepted to the prep school I attended she offered to sleep with the headmaster in order to get the tuition waived, then on the first day she showed up in cowboy boots and daisy duke shorts."
Odette chuckled, "She sounds like a character. Logan never mentioned the specifics, just that you two were very close and that she really did not like him or his background, if I may say so, don't let her opinions and wants to interfere with your happiness. I did that for a long time and it feels much better now that I do what makes me happy, my parents are even coming around to the idea." Odette said with a grin. "Do what makes you happy, I'm not saying you have to cut your mom out of your life, just do what's right for you, not what other people in your life want."
Rory couldn't help but smile at the lovely woman, most people had an opinion one way or other when it came to her relationship with Lorelei, and it was nice to simply have a bit of advice. "Thank you, I really appreciate you saying that."
"You're welcome. I wish you all the best of luck."
"Same to you." With a round of goodbyes and a few 'society approved' air kisses, the couples parted to head to their tables.
When they got to their table, they realized they were seated with Emily, Francine, and three of HPG's board members and their guests. "Rory, you handled that extremely well," Emily said once Rory and Logan had sat down.
"I hope so, Grandma."
"You really did." Francine interjected, "I never understood what was going on between you and Odette and now the whole situation makes much more sense." Francine directed to Logan. The board members weren't paying attention to Rory's interaction with Odette, but they had been impressed by Logan's handling of the situation and told him so. As the first course was eaten, the table had a lovely conversation and as the plates were cleared away the board members thought that Rory was great and was a good match for Logan.
There were a few opening speeches between the first course and dinner, then a lovely dinner was served. Logan had a rib-eye steak that was served with red potatoes and a mix of vegetables, while she had an oven-baked chicken breast with a mushroom sauce that was served with various vegetables. Before dessert was served Martha got on stage to introduce their special guest and main speaker, who happened to be Jess.
Rory listened intently as Jess spoke and retold the story she got early, how his home life was unstable and how a teacher took him to the after-school program run by the Children's Literacy Connection and how his time at that program sparked his love for reading. He spoke about how they taught him to write and gave him someplace to be when going home wasn't an option. As he spoke more about how his career as a novelist (two of his books ended up on the New York Times Bestseller list) and businessman (Truncheon Publishing had developed a fantastic reputation over the years), and how his success could be tied to his time at the Children's Literacy Connection, Rory started to think. Between the library and bookstore in Stars Hollow, and her grandparents she'd had access to almost any book she wanted growing up. She also had people in her life who supported her and her education, but there were children who didn't have that, and they relied on places like the Children's Literacy Connection to even give them a chance. She had always wanted to help organizations like this one more, but she hadn't been in a position to do so before, but now she was.
As Rory was thinking Logan looked over when he realized she hadn't said anything in a while, "Ace, what's going on?"
"Ever since all of Trix's accounts and the Hayden trust were signed over to me I have close to $350 million in liquid assets."
"Yeah?"
"I don't need $350 million, Logan. I have a good job and I don't live like the Kardashians. I could easily give some of it away. What do you think?"
Logan lightly scoffed at the question, "Rory, you can do whatever you want with your money, and you're right, you can give some of it away. That's why we're here, Ace."
"Logan's correct." Emily chimed in, "The purpose of these events is to raise money and you can donate however much you want, whenever you feel like, now"
Rory nodded then got her purse and pulled out her cheque book. She filled in all the different areas but hesitated when it came to the exact amount. "You can write any amount you want, Ace," Logan said suddenly. On a whim, Rory wrote down $10 million. Honestly what was the difference between $350 million and $340 million, nothing really, and it wasn't doing anyone any good just sitting in her bank account.
Rory had spotted Martha and Rory headed over to give her the cheque before anyone could speak to her. "Martha," Rory said cheerfully as she got closer, to get her attention. Once Rory was next to her, she spoke again, "I wanted to thank you for a lovely evening and I have been very impressed by everything you guys are doing, and I hope this will help." Rory quickly handed her the cheque and watched as Martha paled as she read the amount.
"Ms. Gilmore this will be a fantastic help to our organization. Thank you so much." Martha said still stunned. Once she had recovered a little from her shock she spoke again, "After dessert, we were going to announce how much was made tonight and would you mind if we made a special mention of you?"
"Of course."
Rory went back to her table and tucked into the piece of chocolate cheesecake that had been delivered while she was talking to Martha. As the dessert was cleared away and people were starting to head towards the exit Martha came on to the stage for one last announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, before you leave for the evening I quickly want to inform you all of the great success this night has been and that thanks to you we have raised 13.5 million dollars!" A round of applause went up at the announcement, once it started to die down Martha spoke again, "Our largest donation of the night was 10 million dollars curtesy of Rory Gilmore." Another round of applause went up as Martha beckoned for her to come on stage, after some prodding from everyone at her table she went up on stage shook Martha's hand and posed for a few photos that the journalists were scrambling to get. After a few minutes, and a few more thank yous from Martha, Rory left the stage and went back to Logan.
"You did great, Ace."
"That was wonderful, Rory."
"That was a fantastic thing you just did, Rory." After everyone in their vicinity had either thanked or congratulated her, they had decided that it was time to leave. As they made their way to the exit they ran into a flabbergasted Jess who was stunned, not only by the amount of money she gave but by the amount of money she clearly had. "Wow, Ror. I didn't realize you had that much money."
"It's a relatively new development, Grandpa left me nearly everything, so did my great-grandmother. Then my dad's parents decided to give five million dollars as an apology."
"That's one hell of an apology gift."
Rory just shrugged in response. "Yeah, well I figured that the money wasn't doing any good by me hoarding it and thought I could give it to someone who could actually use it."
At this Jess smiled and nodded, "I know what you mean, once I realized I could actually donate money, they were the first people I donated to. Thank you, Rory. It means a lot."
Rory had been avoiding saying 'you're welcome' since the announcement but when Jess thanked her, she responded. "You're very welcome. I'll see you soon."
"Goodnight."
With that Logan and Rory headed towards the waiting town car and went home to Brooklyn.
Rory was extremely glad that it was Saturday when she woke up the next morning, she was able to laze about and not rush out of the apartment. When she finally made her way out to the living room, her hope of a totally lazy Saturday vanished. Logan was sitting at the dining table surrounded by his laptop, a tablet and various pieces of paper. He was busy talking into his cellphone and he notice her emerge from the bedroom. She went into the kitchen to get a cup of tea as he spoke on the phone, Rory noted that while he was clearly trying to sort something out, it didn't seem like a crisis. Once her tea was made she went over to the table and sat across from Logan, away from the piles of paper, he looked up at her when she sat down and hung up the phone once he quickly wrapped up the conversation.
"Morning, Ace," Logan said cheerfully.
"Good morning," Rory looked around at the piled on the table baffled, before speaking again, "What happened? Did a bomb get dropped?"
Logan scoffed before picking up his tablet, "No, our statement was released in all of HPG's outlets and received standard feedback."
"Ok, then what's the problem?"
Logan sighed before handing over his tablet, "You should look at this," When she picked up the tablet, she immediately noticed the headline:
HARTFORD HEIRESS MAKES $10 MILLION DONATION
"Oh," Rory said, completely stunned. The article itself was relatively accurate and painted her as the hero, but it was still shocking to see it in the news. "Where was it published?"
"That one was on Page Six, but variations of it were published in your paper, the New York Daily News, the Metro section of the Times, the Boston Globe and the Hartford Courant."
"Why the Globe?"
"That article focused more on your connection to me, they probably thought it was interesting since they are a HPG holding."
"Is this why you were on the phone?"
"Yeah, I've been getting calls since 5 am from the Daily News, the Courant, and Globe, since they're all HPG, confirming that they could run the piece. I was also trying to stop anything damaging from coming out."
Rory just sighed then agreed. "Was there much that you had to stop?"
Logan just smiled at Rory, knowing that there were a few parts of her life that she wished never happened, "Not much. I had a few questions about your jailbird stint, but I was able to shut it down."
Rory loudly sighed then took a sip of her tea, which quickly warmed her on the cold morning.
"Do you want food, to go with your tea?" Logan joked from across the table.
"Are you offering?" Logan just shook his head then made his way to the kitchen.
"Apples or bananas?" Logan suddenly shouted from the kitchen.
"What?"
"On top of your oatmeal? Apples or bananas?" Rory shook her head in amusement at him before finally answering, "Bananas and blueberries."
"Yes, ma'am" Logan joked, causing Rory to chuckle as she skimmed through the rest of the headlines that were published that morning.
Ten minutes later Rory and Logan were both eating their breakfast while talking about the various articles that had been published as well as her own paper when Rory's cell phone started to ring. Rory looked down at the phone and groaned when she saw that it was Lorelei. "Who is it?" Logan asked when he heard her groan, Rory just showed him the screen before picking up.
"Hi mom." Rory said tiredly
"Hey sweets, late night?"
"Yeah, something like that,"
"You know, everyone was asking about you the last few days, and they were really surprised that you weren't at the Festival of Love last night."
"I was busy last night mom; I couldn't make it." Logan looked at Rory when he heard her mention the previous night, he knew that if Lorelei got wind of the fact that Rory went to society event and then donated a lot of money to the cause, Mount Lorelei would certainly go off.
"Too busy to come back to your town to take part in one of their cherished events?" Lorelei sniped.
"Stars Hollow is my hometown, mom; I don't live there anymore. And Taylor would have a festival every week if he could, I don't need to be at every festival, especially if I'm busy."
"You used to do it when you were at Yale."
"That was an hour drive and almost every time I was already in Hartford, so it made just as much sense to go back to Stars Hollow instead of returning to Yale."
Lorelei was silent for a minute and then spoke, "So, did the thing you had to do last night have anything to do with the Google Alert I got about you this morning?"
"Mom," Rory said with a sigh but before she could say anything else Lorelei interrupted, "Rory!" Lorelei yelled, "I can't believe that you went to that fundraiser last night! With my mother! The Rory I knew would never even think about attending one of those events!"
"Mom, I have been to those types of events before. The DAR event that I planned during my year off was a fundraiser for an organization that helps returning veterans, and some of the parties that grandma would throw were fundraisers for local organizations. I just have the ability to make a significant contribution now."
"Significant!" Lorelei yelled, "You gave them ten million dollars!"
Logan looked over and caught Rory's eye when he heard Lorelei through the phone. Rory rolled her eyes and put the phone on speaker so Logan could hear their conversation.
"Yes, I did," Rory said calmly, "I thought they would get more use out of it than I would."
"Rory! You can't just throw money around like that!"
"Why not? I didn't spend it on a gold toilet, a private island or 50 pairs of Jimmy Choo's," Rory couldn't resist taking a jab at Lorelei by reminding her how her first instinct was to spend her inheritance cheque from Richard on a crazy number of shoes instead of paying off some of her debt or doing something useful with the money. "I gave it to a deserving charity which is making a real impact in the community."
"Really, Rory? How did Logan talk you into doing that? What, did he need to look good but didn't want to part with any of his own money, so he had you do it for him?"
Logan was about to jump into the conversation but before he had the chance Rory spoke up, "Logan didn't talk me into donating my money." Rory groaned in frustration, "I am perfectly capable of making decisions on my own and I can decide what to do with my money on my own. He donated $500,000 on his own but it was my donation that made the paper."
"Rory, you're hanging around with high society brats, willingly spending time with my mother and behaving like a society wife! This isn't you!"
"Mom, did it ever occur to you that maybe I like doing these things? It's not like I'm throwing my money around for the hell of it, it all went to a deserving charity, and even once in a while for fun, I enjoy eating at fancy restaurants or buying expensive clothes and knowing I won't have to choose between the clothes and the phone or heating bill."
"Oh, come on Rory!"
"No mom! Would I prefer to stay home and watch movies or read a book? Yes. But as a Huntzberger wife, I'll go because it's what is expected, and if it's a good cause I don't mind going." Logan's eyebrows shot up at Rory's reference to being his wife. She had mentioned it to Lorelei before but her off-handed mention during a fight with her mother shocked him a bit, "And those society brats are my friends! They're nice people and have been more supportive of me in the past months than you have been."
"A Huntzberger wife!" Lorelei screeched through the phone.
"Yes, a Huntzberger wife! I am going to marry Logan, mom, and as his wife, there are things that will be expected of me, and I am ok with that. Honestly, since I inherited the majority of the Gilmore money a lot of those things would be expected anyway. I'm not going to turn into some bimbo, trophy wife who looks away while he has affairs all so I can spend his money, but I will be his wife and when the day comes, I will be proud to say that I am his wife."
"Rory!"
"Mom, just stop. Our twins deserve to grow up in a home where their parents love and respect one another, and to know their history. Instead of being hidden away and then taught to hate almost everything about other members of your family." Rory paused and looked up at Logan who had moved to her side and grabbed her hand over the course of the heated conversation. "Mom, if you can't be mature or supportive, I think we need to take some space from each other for a while." Rory was eerily calm as she changed her and Lorelei's relationship for good.
"This isn't you! Do not contact me until my Rory, my mini-me comes back to her senses and realizes that this is all a big mistake!"
"I may have looked just like you, but I was never your true mini-me. Not like you thought I was or wanted me to be."
With that Rory hung up the phone; after a minute she leaned into Logan and started to cry. Even though she knew that setting boundaries with Lorelei was for the best, she couldn't help but cry over the fact that her relationship with her mom would never be the same.
AN: I wanted Rory to find a way to set some boundaries with Lorelei and that was my main focus for this chapter.
I hope you all liked it, review if you please!